Things That Inspire Email Subscribers

I have an email subscription feature on my blog, and I just learned that google has purchased the company that manages the email and reader feed.  I am being required to transfer over to google's service, and supposedly the email subscriptions will transfer over too.  Just in case there is a glitch I wanted my subscribers to be aware because I love my email subscribers!

Stay tuned.  Since art is on my mind this week, I am inserting a gratuitous picture of one of my favorite artists for no other reason than it makes me smile. Painting by Brice Marden, interiors by Michael Smith.

Art and design

I was in the library recently, and saw Michael Smith's Elements of Style. I had heard a lot of good things about this book, so I decided to check it out. On one of the first pages I came across this beautiful image (above) - a truly outstanding piece of contemporary art by Brice Marden.

Brice Marden, Vine, 1992-93. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

I do not profess to be an expert on contemporary art by any stretch, but how is it that I have never heard of or seen the work of this artist? He is considered to be one of the most important American artists of the contemporary period. Brice Marden was born in 1938, and is known for general abstraction and a highly individualized palette of muted colors.

Brice Marden, Study for the Muses, Hydra Version, 1997. Matthew Marks Gallery, NYC.

Brice Marden, Attendant 5, 1996-99.

Brice Marden, Epitaph Painting 5, 2001. Matthew Marks Gallery, NYC

The styles depicted above are just a part of Marden's portfolio, but are the ones that had the most appeal to me. The calligraphic-like swirls of these pieces are so beautiful. I am not surprised that one of Marden's influences is Chinese calligraphy.

I picked up Michael Smith's book hoping to learn a bit about interior design, which I did; however, the greatest discovery from the book is a new artist whose work truly inspires me. Now that is a good thing.